Just before the Christmas holiday, food stamp benefits will be restored for the tens of thousands of Illinois households that lost them last month because of problems with a state computer system, Illinois Department of Human Services officials said at a Thursday news conference.

State DHS officials remain at odds with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union — which represents more than 2,400 human services caseworkers in Illinois — over what’s actually causing the problem, though. Some caseworkers have complained in recent weeks of rampant computer system glitches, lack of sufficient training and mounting frustrations over delayed benefits at local DHS offices.

But state officials on Thursday maintained that the “vast majority” of the more than 40,000 households that lost their Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits last month were a result of missed deadlines and poor communication about the new system — not computer glitches.

“Change can be difficult, and maybe it caught some customers off guard in terms of the requirement to turn those documents into the state,” said Diane Grigsby-Jackson, director of the DHS division of family and community services, at the news conference.

Most of the households affected will see their benefits restored on their electronic benefit cards, known in Illinois as Link cards, by the end of Friday, Grigsby-Jackson said. The state has also requested a federal waiver to forego the standard six-month verification of eligibility for SNAP recipients in December and January as it works to better communicate its new eligibility system, she said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service confirmed that the state’s waiver request was under review.

In 2013, the department began rolling out a new computer system to administer entitlement benefits, such as SNAP benefits, cash assistance from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and Medicaid benefits. State officials have emphasized that the previous system was more than 40 years old and outdated.

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune

Detail of the back of a Link card at Morgan Mini Mart on the corner of 66th and Morgan in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Detail of the back of a Link card at Morgan Mini Mart on the corner of 66th and Morgan in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

The second phase of that process began in late October, prompting disruption in benefits for many. More than 950,000 Illinois households received SNAP benefits as of September.

Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, called the reinstatement of benefits “a step in the right direction.”

But Lindall also said the state should have responded to union concerns months ago, before the second phase of the eligibility system was launched in late October.

Likewise, Francis Tobin, coordinator for the Alliance for Community Services, a Chicago-based nonprofit that works with both DHS caseworkers and clients, lauded the reinstatement of benefits but also expressed lingering concerns.

“It's deeply worrying that they still deny the system has glitches. The workers that have to actually work with the program tell a very different story,” Tobin said.

Grigsby-Jackson again denied systemwide glitches at the news conference.

“What we can acknowledge is with any new rollout of a system this large, you’re going to have issues with the system. … Yes, issues have been identified in the system, but those issues are corrected immediately and then caseworkers have been able to do their work,” Grigsby-Jackson said.

The bigger problem, according to Grigsby-Jackson: The state should have done a better job communicating the changes to the eligibility system to SNAP recipients.

For example, recipients’ applications to verify eligibility, which must be filed twice a year, are due on the fifth day of deadline months and under the new system, benefits are automatically cut off after the 15th of the month if applications haven’t been filed. Because cases had to be canceled manually in the old system, applicants had more of a grace period, she said.

She stressed it’s critical for SNAP recipients to make deadlines going forward or risk losing their benefits again.

Deloitte, the company contracted to build the “integrated eligibility system,” also defended its work. The company has come under fire in recent months for problems with its eligibility system in Rhode Island.

But spokeswoman Megan Doern said in an email that Rhode Island’s system is “completely different” because it combined Rhode Island’s state-based health insurance exchange program with its eligibility system.

“Since 2012, Deloitte has successfully implemented two dozen integrated eligibility systems similar to Illinois IES,” Doern said in the email.

Was it poor timing to change systems just before the holidays?

“Whether it’s the holiday season or some other season, any time a client is eligible for benefits and they’re not able to receive them, that’s a problem,” Grigsby-Jackson said. “That is a problem for that family, as well as the state.”